#debating if the og or the 2009 version is better

[coconutcows]

*Watches Children of the Corn franchise and judges each one based on how much corn there is*

[bedknees]

I've noticed there is a bit of a debate going on if Jayce and Viktor in Arcane could be considered the same characters as their League versions. You have any thoughts on this?

Hello! This is actually something I've thought about myself. I enjoy perspectives from both sides and I honestly fall somewhere in the middle.

I approach Arcane's Jayce and Viktor vs League's Jayce and Viktor the same way I approach Star Trek 2009's versions of the main cast (namely Kirk and Spock) vs the original series' main cast. The characters are at their core the same people, but different experiences will inevitably shape your brain and make your personality/wants/goals a bit different.

Both counterparts do have similar goals and the same desire at their center to help people and make the world a better place. But so much is different. Their relationship is different. They aren't just students with a friendly rivalry (how close of friends they truly were is up for interpretation, by design). But here, in Arcane, they are willing partners that have a closer, more complex relationship. They literally changed the world together. In League, one of the most integral characters to both their Lores (especially Viktor's), is Professor Stanwick. In Arcane, he's been dead for years.

When it comes to core values, I agree that they are intrinsically the same people. But I feel that there is too much divergence from the source material for Jayce and Viktor to end up in the neatly wrapped status quo of their original stories. The writers of Arcane confirmed they were given the reigns to write the story they felt fit best, and I doubt a team as talented as them would backtrack and try to shove characters places that don't make sense for the story they're telling. Many details from OG can and should remain, but even from a simple plot standpoint there are irreconcilable differences that can't be danced around without it looking like bad writing.

I'm in the camp that while Arcane's Jayce and Viktor will end up in similar circumstances to their League counterparts, it can't and shouldn't be the same. If they wanted to make it the same and to stick with the status quo, their backstories shouldn't have been altered the way they were.

Just my perspective though.